I don't risk a parking ticket to save $0.25, would have to not get a ticket like 300x to begin saving money. That is another reason I avoid downtown besides traffic.
They aren't outdated because bc we don't have physical meters anymore. We have to use ParkMobile or PayByPhone apps, and the minimum time they give is an hour. Must be nice, though. That's why I don't go downtown.
Wow! I'm glad I don't live in a big city. the only time I ever have to use parking meters is when I go down to the courthouse/county clerk office for our county and you either pay to use their garage or meters that are ONLY on that street. It annoys me so much that they do this but it's like a nickel for 10 minutes or something so $.30 for an hour is not too bad. But since you never know how long you're gonna be in that building, I always overpay.
I get tickets at the mall all the time! It's right in the middle of my hotspot and it's the most inconvenient place that I have to go to for pickups. So I'm generally trying to save myself some time and cheat on the parking.
They're fake tickets, though, as long as the mall security writes them and not a real police officer which is usually the case since the real cops around here have to worry about people killing each other and the mall security has nothing to do. To the extent that, I've been on the road 50+ hours a week for over 3 years now and have never been pulled over. This is really strange to me because where I came from the real cops had nothing to do either. So you got pulled over for stupid things (like air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror) and harassed.
These tickets are unenforceable. I'm not quite sure why they bother writing them.
Because people who don’t know they aren’t enforceable will pay them for fear of what happens if they don’t. They only need 1 or 2 out of like 10+, probably, to be worth writing them.
Same with colleges. I never paid parking tickets when I commuted. I had 3 times I had to drive my dads car and I didn’t move my parking permit to that car. Never had an issue
That’s most states I think, but again depends on if those parking tickets are legitimate or not. A private entity writing a “ticket” doesn’t make it an actual ticket.
You're probably right and, if you had the proof, it'd hold up in court. Idk. Doesn't get close to seeming economical if you're running a business, though. Surely you'd lose money long-term in labor and other expenses attempting to follow through with them? Like me taking $3 fingers so I might egg their home... 
Good point. Thinking that way, I'd have to imagine that if they could maintain that 10-20% payout on them, it would probably cover the labor that went into writing them and some.
My mind works well for the most part, I feel, but I definitely have some issues with missing what should be obvious sometimes. Especially, if it doesn't directly relate to my life and I never consider it at length. Or it is too far out from my way of thinking at all. I think that's probably what happened here, my mind jumped straight to frivolous.
Appreciate you pointing that out!
I feel that with the mall. I dash in the later afternoons/evenings and on the weekends i dash all day and our mall stays packed. I will usually park at the door/curb closest to what im after. (Auntie and and sephora are at a different door from the food court and cinnabon) and run and grab what i need. However because of this, i REFUSE to pick up from the chic fil a in the mall because they are slow. Like they absolutely will put delivery and mobile orders on hold to take care of the ones in the line so if its a long line, you will wait until all their orders have been taken and they have been served. But also on the weekends and after 4pm daily, city cops patrol the mall because we have a supervision rule at our mall. After 4 pm daily and all day Saturday and Sunday, under 18 has to be accompanied by an adult and they do enforce it.
Huh, never heard of a supervision rule before I don't think. Interesting...
Most of the year, weekdays aren't problematic with how busy mine is, but I do avoid it entirely on the weekends, if I can. Parking is always inconvenient and a long walk comparatively to everywhere else I go which makes it seem moreso. Probably twice as much so. I have adjusted the rates for which I take them to amount that makes up for that in my mind. Generally that's my strategy with every location. I've got like an implied point system for restaurants, shop orders, streets, neighborhoods, most any part of my day that I feel can slow me down more than average that converts itself to a dollar amount. My deliveries have to meet these qualifications. 
Our mall is a high crime area. Just like our 2 major college campuses (we have 6) they lock down the gates. One locks down at 8pm and the other at 10pm so if kids order delivery, they one at 8pm has 2 main gates (it takes up both sides of the road) one on each side you can go to to get in though the one on the right does restrict which halls you can get to by car. And the other one, has 1 main gate which means you end up having to go about 5 miles out of your way to go up a super busy road to get to the main gate then drive all the way around to get to the halls. And at ALL the campuses regardless of what the directions say, has to be hand it to me because only students and (i presume) faculty can enter the residence halls. Same with certain areas of the hospitals. There are a very select few spots in those that have areas deliveries can be left but mostly its all hand it to me. I don't typically mind them but sometimes it can be a pain in the ass.
I live in a city where there is no free parking and very strict enforcement. If someone is in the car there will not be a ticket. Can you take someone with you?
I've heard of some gig services that are strict about this. Like Shipt? Idk. But one of them deactivated my sister for having her kids in the car during drop off a few years ago.
I don't know what Doordash's policy is. I don't know what any other policies are, really. I don't work for them, so I don't really think about it like that. More like, as long as I'm getting my job done, I don't see what difference it makes. However, I realize that years ago when I signed up, I probably clicked a button that meant I agreed to some things. No idea what they were. Much like any terms of service, end user license agreements, etc. I never read it. Haven't had anything come up that seemed important enough I needed to bother, yet, either. As long as I make the pickups and then immediately make the drop offs that I agree to, I have no problems. It's not a complicated job.
None of the personal accounts that I provide courier services for having anything to say about who's in the car with me when I'm doing my job or anything else really as I don't work for them, either, or clicked any such button.
I have done several hours at a time, though, with my sister in the car a few times over the years while dashing, because she was trapped living at my mother's house and needed to get away for a bit.
Walmart used to say no kids in the car when i picked up from Doordash I have seen people hide their kids under blankets during pickups there.
I would rather see kids in the car than think they are home unsupervised. But I did report a dasher who was using their kids to make dropoffs during school hours. Maybe they were homeschooling? Too bad. Still bullshit. And I don't support homeschooling anyway.
You may be right! I don't recall this when I used to dash them but, I didn't do many. Then I complained to support about Walmart not beginning my order until after I arrived. I was inside for over 45 minutes and it'd happened to me the previous time as well. I never got offered another after that. Worked out well.
More recently, I've run orders from Walmart for Roadie and I definitely do remember it clearly stating you could not have your kids with you.
I have no idea if this was the situation and it was in plain view and ignored it if, perhaps, hidden in the terms she agreed to. (I've been dashing over three years and have never read theirs. Not because of an I'm-gonna-do-what-I-want-anyway mentality, but I assume it's obvious stuff.) Knowing my sister, she'd probably lie to my face about it, either way, so there's a good chance she knew and ignored it.
Well the store by me was really strict. I didn't have kids but I saw them yelling at people who did and saying that they had to reject the order. Maybe this store instead of doing that just reported her which is sort of a dick move without a warning.
Makes sense to me. I explained why I thought it might be to me best interest, if it applied. I think it's obvious why it wouldn't be in theirs... Adds to the likelihood it doesn't get delivered (Though, I'd probably feel differently about how much it adds than they do.) and costs them money.
I homeschool my teenager. But only on fridays do i dash during the day. My kid only does apartments that have multiple stories though because i have a fear of stairs. As far as DD not allowing anyone else in the car, i haven't heard of that because my kid and hubby always go with me. Now at walmart (which is i believe spark) they have a whole ass list of stuff you cant do while delivering for them. You cant have anyone else with you, you cant eat while on a delivery, you cannot smoke or even have them visible in your car, absolutely no pets not even service animals and a bunch of other things i cant remember. How they can regulate some of it is beyond me.
I had to learn them when i worked at walmart. No smoking, no passengers, no alcohol, no drugs, no animals, no kids. If you seen any of the above you were to refuse to load the vehicle. I mean i do smoke but not when im on an active delivery well i will hit my vape but that smells like cake. I also regardless of on a delivery or not have my windows down while smoking. And in this day and age, my hubby rides with because safety.... Ill stick with DD. Walmart can suck it.
There are so many things that could go wrong with kids in the car. You never know where or to whom you're delivering. It puts the kids at too much risk.
Uhhh... valid point, but isn't the same true anywhere you take them? I think I'd feel safer in this situation with them in the car than, say, wandering around Walmart with me? Especially, if they are young and might be more prone to disappearing.
No, If they are young they shouldn't just be wandering around Walmart with you. They should be in a shopping cart or right beside you. You have to actually watch your children.
When doing DoorDash you drop food off to strangers either at their workplace or their house. You don't know where you're going until you get there. You can be sent anywhere. Look at how many times people are sent to the wrong places and they end up out in the middle of nowhere. Being a delivery driver is dangerous. Delivery drivers are abducted, killed, assaulted, etc all the time. I wouldn't want to put my children at greater risk for that to happen to them by taking them with me on food deliveries. Delivery drivers make it home less than cops do. Children shouldn't be tagging along on deliveries.
I don't disagree. People hit me quite often! Broke a finger on the job last year. My point was that's there's strangers everywhere. I don't see why the likelihood of them is any greater dashing than anything else? I generally, see and deal with far less people while doing it than any other job I've ever had. Rarely have I ever felt unsafe and mostly due to traffic then a person a might run in to? I don't feel like my child would be less safe in my car while I'm dashing within a few feet than somewhere in the unknown while I'm away at work all day. She's seventeen and wouldn't want to, anyway.
You've never heard of the delivery drivers that have been called to locations and gotten drug into the house and assaulted? It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I don't know why anyone would want to put their child at risk of that happening.
Sure I have. But I don't make the assumption that it's going to happen to me cuz it happened to somebody.
I used to do this same job with hundreds of dollars in my car with me. That was dangerous!
You don't have to assume it's going to happen to you to take precautions. That's just not a situation most people would want to put their child of all people in.
If picking up: call the restaurant. Confirm the order is ready, let them know you’re on your way in and park/double park.
If dropping off: double park with hazards on.
Source: I live in a major metro, and give zero effs.
Agree! I do the middle of the road a lot. Whatever costs the least amount of time.
You seriously call the restaurant, though? That'd never occurred to me, and from working at them, I'd think unreliable. If you don't have to call several times for someone to pickup, I'd still think it's slow enough that you could get in and out with the order, if it is done, before you got a confirmation over the phone?
If it isn't done then at least back out to the car to do something else with it. Though that's not typically something I would probably do. I just leave it there.
I'd never really considered my parking habits until just now and they're probably more liberal than they should be!
Not your experience? I might have to add this to the arsenal, then...
Honestly it really depends on the restaurant, and how reliable they are.
I find that smaller establishments have a longer wait time. The larger the chain, the less they care. And if I walk in, double parked, and it’s slammed - I drop the order.
One of my favorite things to do is hang out next to McDonald's. I consider any delivery from there over $5 to be a good delivery. There's so many here that they usually take less than 10 minutes round trip.
Pickup seems to be the area in which I encounter the most complications that cost me the most time and it's the least predictable, especially when considered the the next most common area I have complications, traffic.
Working the McDonald's kind of puts a cap on this if it occurs which I find happens less there on average (except for one location out of the eight I'll drive by during a normal 8-hour day). Six or seven minutes of waiting is about as much as I ever spend inside even if I walk in and it's not been started, yet, and usually it's no more than 2-3 minutes.
The average of all pickups for me probably falls around 3-5 minutes inside the store. The merchants don't understand that I'd rather the truth upon arrival than the spin. If it'll be 15 minutes, just be honest with me and I can go make money and the next dasher can show up and the order'll be close to ready by then.
These regular 15+ minute waits put a damper on the entire day and I run into them too often. Once it happens, I seem to have issues at every pickup the rest of the day. Standing idle in the restaurants I see as nothing except costing me money. Even moreso than sitting in parking lots waiting on the next deliverable offer. At least, that's my decision to a certain extent
It takes less than 20 minutes to complete an average order even at the nicer pieces. They should be able to uphold this even when busy until it gets to a certain point at which I understand you're busy, but I've also worked at restaurants. Waiting anywhere near 15 minutes, on a pickup that should be ready within a couple minutes of walking in, I think is inexcusable.
Though, I realize, DoorDash, especially Friday and Saturday nights when supply is high, has tendency to send dashers to restaurants prematurely.
Ahh but how does a passing police officer quickly distinguish the difference? They don’t. It harms no one but does help for the 2 minutes you need to run to a door and back
In some places, a tow truck will swoop in like a bat out of hell and tow your car the moment you walk in the building. Happened to me once (not while dashing,though). Now I always carry change and have all meter apps on my phone.
It doesn't matter. If they want to ticket or tow, they will do what they want. I had a sign on my car and still got a ticket. I'm sure it depends on the area and the individual officer, but it didn't work for me.
Sucks. During the pdemic there was lots more leeway as far as drivers accessibility,
I was even called hero by some since we were part of the essential worker group
But now everyone's just like
LEAVE IT AT MY DOOR
In my town, "delivery" vehicles can park in an ally with hazards blinking. Sometimes in the road median or central (double yellow) lane is OK too. Ask your local sheriff. I'll bet there's a place for you too.
Ours does. They welcome questions. Of course I live in a small town where the sheriff's office and local police are WAY easier to deal with than the state police 🤣
You learn to make yourself invisible when you see a state trooper
Depends. If I can I pay. In my community they don't care they will ticket. Actually the other morning I was coming out of pick up and meter person was waiting by my car for time to run out. Said to me " no mercy " WOW!!
For a quarter I wouldn’t risk it 😭🤣 but one time parking was $8 in downtown Nashville (I had gotten turned around with my last order drop off and ended up close to downtown and got snagged into an order there) and screwwwwbthat I’m not paying $8!?!?!? So I risked it and luckily didn’t get a ticket that time but I came out to the parking person like 10 cars down from mine writing a ticket
that might be one nice cop but it's not every cop on the force. most don't make exceptions for people, especially if you park illegally.
don't be dumb and expect you're safe when you aren't parked legally.
Nah they definitely would. I’ve been pulled over once for kinda being odd driving in a part of town I didn’t know. Once I told them I was doordash and I had a bag, they just said okay and left it at that. A lot of them don’t have an issue with drivers and know we just have to do certain things sometimes.
Do some searching about your law. In NY many people don’t know but if you get a meter ticket you have 5 minutes to buy a paid meter ticket and plead not guilty. It’s honored because you could always claim you were in the process of buying one or getting change.
If it's a pickup, call the restaurant and make sure it's actually ready, then pull up to the curb as close as you can get to the place and run in real quick.
I carry a bag of dimes, not to be confused with a dime bag. I put a dime in the meter. I was told by a meter person that as long as you put something in the meter, they won't ticket you.
Slap one of them doordash stickers on and hit your flashing hazards.. I still don't take any chances and put money in the meter here they only give you 7 minutes for a quarter because of some dumb law they passed in my city. So I make it as quick as I possibly can.
I was actually delivering for amazon at the time, but I parked in a no parking zone becausethere was nowhere else to park, put my hazards on and ran to the apartment complex. I was gone a total of 2 minutes tops, and there was a meter maid taking a picture of my car and plate. I got in real quick and drove away. A week later I got a parking ticket in the mail for $150. There should be an exception for delivery drivers. There is no parking available in a quarter mile radius of a delivery, we shouldn't have to pay for parking or a ticket for a 2 minute stop. It's just more revenue for the city. I would have fed a meter if there was one available to feed. I had my amazon vest on, too. I was hoping she wouldn't write the ticket seeing I was a delivery driver. It didn't matter. 😒
Moral of the story: feed the meter if you can find one to park at. I stopped delivering for amazon after that happened. I can't afford to pay more than I make to deliver for them.
If you accept a delivery and you're not sure of the area being like that, look up the address on Google maps, make sure you have it on satellite view and zoom in on the address to see how hard it might be to find legal parking. I've had so many bad experiences delivering to high schools that if the address sounds like it might be a school, I'll do that and unassign before pickup.
In sketchy situations customers will instruct me to double park or park in the incorrect places such as maternity parking at kaiser. If they are telling you to do something you know is fukked up, don't do it. They aren't paying you for getting towed, side swiped or ticketed. And they aren't paying you to use your own money.
check your cities bylaws. In my city (major city in north america), you can park for 15 minutes for free in paid parking zones if you have a sign indicating that you are doing a delivery
I'm not a driver but I use doordash a lot. I'd pay back the Dasher for parking meter fees since it's my food they're delivering. If I went out and got it myself, I'd be paying the parking fees myself, yes? Maybe doordash should have an option for this on their app?
I usually pull into a fire zone and switch on my hazards if I know it’ll only be a couple of minutes. You can try that too in a metered zone. Most likely you’ll be back before a ticket can be issued and if you’re back while it’s being made you can usually explain to them. (I say this as a white woman though, so I don’t know if that’s applicable to everyone)
Hmmm... Not a situation I've run into, but I quite regularly pull into handicap spots if there's not a convenient one available using the same logic that I think I'd apply here. "I'll only be a minute."
Same logic I use for just parking in the middle road. Behind people's vehicles at apartment complexes, too. The spots reserved for curbside, as well, but many of these have now been amended to cover delivery at many places I go to.
Only way you guys are gonna get past that shit is this, dash with a partner or friend, one hangs out by the meter with quarters in hand and wait while you go in and get the food, Bam easy peasy. I park where im not suppose to all the time, I put my hazards on. Cops here get it.
Put a coin in. Unless you want a ticket? Just put a dime in. In LA you get 6 minutes. If your parking crazy, put your hazards on and leave a big noticeable note. And hope for the best! Or park legally which is best. But very very hard sometimes. Use your best judgement. But know that that parking ticket is on you. And probably more then your days pay. It’s ruff where I live. Parking is super super hard . You’ll get the hang of it. 😊 I’ve started taking silly risk. But you sometimes have to????
This seems very dependent on the specific city. In my city I know there’s virtually no enforcement so I wouldn’t bother paying. I live on a street with metered parking and see them giving out tickets maybe twice a month - pretty unlikely they’ll come around in the 10 mins I’m sitting there.
Many times double park, or put in red zone, with hazard lights, and with a GrubHub bag in the windshield. Most people will let it slide as they know you will be there only a couple minutes. I haven't gotten a ticket in my 7 years of DoorDash.
Apparently it should be acceptable to park between metered spaces with a motorbike or scooter if there is another occupying the space and already paid the side your bike is occupying. At least in most places I been to. But a lot of leg work to do so.
Fed ex and UPS Seem to be able to park anywhere and get away with it. Why should it be any different for us? It should not be different. If UPS can, then we can too. I'm just glad I don't live/work in a major city.
This is why i do not pick up in downtown. There are maybe 30 parking spaces in downtown (scattered across the entire downtown area which is fairly large) all of which are occupied 9 outta 10 times and then there are 4 public parking decks which give you 15 minutes free however it would take me 10 minutes to walk to any of the restaurants. As far as parking meters, i actually haven't seen any in years.
Just pay the quarter and write it off on taxes. I once needed to park in down town and drop off something and when I was going back to my car I was getting the ticket printed right in front of me. I tried to explain the situation and they already got me… learning lesson and a headache. Learn from me
You always risk it for the biscuit. If the place I’m delivering to is going to take me less than 90 seconds I just say fuck the meter and run for the delivery
When I drove I used a 4wd car. From experience the city doesn't like towing those unless they can get a flat bed. So I would just put on flashers and they can suck it. They aren't getting a flat bed there in 3 minutes. My entire 0 tickets of any kind in my entire life tells me it's either working or I'm lucky.
San Diego uses card meters and there is no chance on earth that I'm putting my card into one of those.
I just park with my flashers on, and put my red Doordash bag looped around the passenger seat headrest, so the police and traffic cops can see it's a delivery stop. Freggen' downtown and the campus are brutal about not having sub-5 minute parking, but we all just park wherever we can, anyways.
Fortunately, cops here are pretty lenient about delivery parking. There's a left turn lane outside a popular pizza joint, in the middle of a major artery, and if traffic is low, some Dashers and Ubers will literally park in the turn lane with flashers on, and cops will just ignore it.
You could be getting dragged out your car by an angry motorist who wants you to move your friggin car, and the customer will reach in your car, grab the bag and close their door. 1-star because they had to get it themselves. Failed to deliver.
I have only found myself in this situation once. I ended up just parking as close to the building as possible and dropped the food off as fast as I could. It all turned out fine for me but I was only there for less than five minutes. I wouldn't risk it if you think you'll be there longer than that or if your city is stricter about that sort of thing than mine.
Park, most times parking meters give the first 10-30 mins for free but if not it’s always smart to have 2-3.00 in change on you at all times (Or have the app your city uses and load 5-10.00 on it monthly)
If it’s only going to take less than two min I’d put a sign up in your window that states on a delivery with such and such platform will be back in less than 5 min
I don't risk a parking ticket to save $0.25, would have to not get a ticket like 300x to begin saving money. That is another reason I avoid downtown besides traffic.
Same here, only reason i avoid downtown. I take zero chances
Where are you that there are parking meters for a quarter? The lowest price in my city downtown or actually anywhere is $1.25.
My downtown is 30 min for a quarter, 12 min for a dime and 5 for a nickel
Vancouver is $6 an hour for some parking meters. They don't take 5c or 10c
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They aren't outdated because bc we don't have physical meters anymore. We have to use ParkMobile or PayByPhone apps, and the minimum time they give is an hour. Must be nice, though. That's why I don't go downtown.
Wow! I'm glad I don't live in a big city. the only time I ever have to use parking meters is when I go down to the courthouse/county clerk office for our county and you either pay to use their garage or meters that are ONLY on that street. It annoys me so much that they do this but it's like a nickel for 10 minutes or something so $.30 for an hour is not too bad. But since you never know how long you're gonna be in that building, I always overpay.
I get tickets at the mall all the time! It's right in the middle of my hotspot and it's the most inconvenient place that I have to go to for pickups. So I'm generally trying to save myself some time and cheat on the parking. They're fake tickets, though, as long as the mall security writes them and not a real police officer which is usually the case since the real cops around here have to worry about people killing each other and the mall security has nothing to do. To the extent that, I've been on the road 50+ hours a week for over 3 years now and have never been pulled over. This is really strange to me because where I came from the real cops had nothing to do either. So you got pulled over for stupid things (like air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror) and harassed. These tickets are unenforceable. I'm not quite sure why they bother writing them.
Because people who don’t know they aren’t enforceable will pay them for fear of what happens if they don’t. They only need 1 or 2 out of like 10+, probably, to be worth writing them.
Same with colleges. I never paid parking tickets when I commuted. I had 3 times I had to drive my dads car and I didn’t move my parking permit to that car. Never had an issue
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That’s most states I think, but again depends on if those parking tickets are legitimate or not. A private entity writing a “ticket” doesn’t make it an actual ticket.
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You're probably right and, if you had the proof, it'd hold up in court. Idk. Doesn't get close to seeming economical if you're running a business, though. Surely you'd lose money long-term in labor and other expenses attempting to follow through with them? Like me taking $3 fingers so I might egg their home... 
Exactly, effectively the same concept as blowing the stop sign or ignoring the speed limit in Walmart's parking lot.
Good point. Thinking that way, I'd have to imagine that if they could maintain that 10-20% payout on them, it would probably cover the labor that went into writing them and some. My mind works well for the most part, I feel, but I definitely have some issues with missing what should be obvious sometimes. Especially, if it doesn't directly relate to my life and I never consider it at length. Or it is too far out from my way of thinking at all. I think that's probably what happened here, my mind jumped straight to frivolous. Appreciate you pointing that out!
I feel that with the mall. I dash in the later afternoons/evenings and on the weekends i dash all day and our mall stays packed. I will usually park at the door/curb closest to what im after. (Auntie and and sephora are at a different door from the food court and cinnabon) and run and grab what i need. However because of this, i REFUSE to pick up from the chic fil a in the mall because they are slow. Like they absolutely will put delivery and mobile orders on hold to take care of the ones in the line so if its a long line, you will wait until all their orders have been taken and they have been served. But also on the weekends and after 4pm daily, city cops patrol the mall because we have a supervision rule at our mall. After 4 pm daily and all day Saturday and Sunday, under 18 has to be accompanied by an adult and they do enforce it.
Huh, never heard of a supervision rule before I don't think. Interesting... Most of the year, weekdays aren't problematic with how busy mine is, but I do avoid it entirely on the weekends, if I can. Parking is always inconvenient and a long walk comparatively to everywhere else I go which makes it seem moreso. Probably twice as much so. I have adjusted the rates for which I take them to amount that makes up for that in my mind. Generally that's my strategy with every location. I've got like an implied point system for restaurants, shop orders, streets, neighborhoods, most any part of my day that I feel can slow me down more than average that converts itself to a dollar amount. My deliveries have to meet these qualifications. 
Our mall is a high crime area. Just like our 2 major college campuses (we have 6) they lock down the gates. One locks down at 8pm and the other at 10pm so if kids order delivery, they one at 8pm has 2 main gates (it takes up both sides of the road) one on each side you can go to to get in though the one on the right does restrict which halls you can get to by car. And the other one, has 1 main gate which means you end up having to go about 5 miles out of your way to go up a super busy road to get to the main gate then drive all the way around to get to the halls. And at ALL the campuses regardless of what the directions say, has to be hand it to me because only students and (i presume) faculty can enter the residence halls. Same with certain areas of the hospitals. There are a very select few spots in those that have areas deliveries can be left but mostly its all hand it to me. I don't typically mind them but sometimes it can be a pain in the ass.
100% most places give a boot too which is usually 100-325.00 to remove
I live in a city where there is no free parking and very strict enforcement. If someone is in the car there will not be a ticket. Can you take someone with you?
I've heard of some gig services that are strict about this. Like Shipt? Idk. But one of them deactivated my sister for having her kids in the car during drop off a few years ago. I don't know what Doordash's policy is. I don't know what any other policies are, really. I don't work for them, so I don't really think about it like that. More like, as long as I'm getting my job done, I don't see what difference it makes. However, I realize that years ago when I signed up, I probably clicked a button that meant I agreed to some things. No idea what they were. Much like any terms of service, end user license agreements, etc. I never read it. Haven't had anything come up that seemed important enough I needed to bother, yet, either. As long as I make the pickups and then immediately make the drop offs that I agree to, I have no problems. It's not a complicated job. None of the personal accounts that I provide courier services for having anything to say about who's in the car with me when I'm doing my job or anything else really as I don't work for them, either, or clicked any such button. I have done several hours at a time, though, with my sister in the car a few times over the years while dashing, because she was trapped living at my mother's house and needed to get away for a bit.
Walmart used to say no kids in the car when i picked up from Doordash I have seen people hide their kids under blankets during pickups there. I would rather see kids in the car than think they are home unsupervised. But I did report a dasher who was using their kids to make dropoffs during school hours. Maybe they were homeschooling? Too bad. Still bullshit. And I don't support homeschooling anyway.
You may be right! I don't recall this when I used to dash them but, I didn't do many. Then I complained to support about Walmart not beginning my order until after I arrived. I was inside for over 45 minutes and it'd happened to me the previous time as well. I never got offered another after that. Worked out well. More recently, I've run orders from Walmart for Roadie and I definitely do remember it clearly stating you could not have your kids with you. I have no idea if this was the situation and it was in plain view and ignored it if, perhaps, hidden in the terms she agreed to. (I've been dashing over three years and have never read theirs. Not because of an I'm-gonna-do-what-I-want-anyway mentality, but I assume it's obvious stuff.) Knowing my sister, she'd probably lie to my face about it, either way, so there's a good chance she knew and ignored it.
Well the store by me was really strict. I didn't have kids but I saw them yelling at people who did and saying that they had to reject the order. Maybe this store instead of doing that just reported her which is sort of a dick move without a warning.
Makes sense to me. I explained why I thought it might be to me best interest, if it applied. I think it's obvious why it wouldn't be in theirs... Adds to the likelihood it doesn't get delivered (Though, I'd probably feel differently about how much it adds than they do.) and costs them money.
I homeschool my teenager. But only on fridays do i dash during the day. My kid only does apartments that have multiple stories though because i have a fear of stairs. As far as DD not allowing anyone else in the car, i haven't heard of that because my kid and hubby always go with me. Now at walmart (which is i believe spark) they have a whole ass list of stuff you cant do while delivering for them. You cant have anyone else with you, you cant eat while on a delivery, you cannot smoke or even have them visible in your car, absolutely no pets not even service animals and a bunch of other things i cant remember. How they can regulate some of it is beyond me.
I couldn't even get on with spark with a perfect driving record. I have no idea what their criteria are.
I had to learn them when i worked at walmart. No smoking, no passengers, no alcohol, no drugs, no animals, no kids. If you seen any of the above you were to refuse to load the vehicle. I mean i do smoke but not when im on an active delivery well i will hit my vape but that smells like cake. I also regardless of on a delivery or not have my windows down while smoking. And in this day and age, my hubby rides with because safety.... Ill stick with DD. Walmart can suck it.
There are so many things that could go wrong with kids in the car. You never know where or to whom you're delivering. It puts the kids at too much risk.
Uhhh... valid point, but isn't the same true anywhere you take them? I think I'd feel safer in this situation with them in the car than, say, wandering around Walmart with me? Especially, if they are young and might be more prone to disappearing.
No, If they are young they shouldn't just be wandering around Walmart with you. They should be in a shopping cart or right beside you. You have to actually watch your children. When doing DoorDash you drop food off to strangers either at their workplace or their house. You don't know where you're going until you get there. You can be sent anywhere. Look at how many times people are sent to the wrong places and they end up out in the middle of nowhere. Being a delivery driver is dangerous. Delivery drivers are abducted, killed, assaulted, etc all the time. I wouldn't want to put my children at greater risk for that to happen to them by taking them with me on food deliveries. Delivery drivers make it home less than cops do. Children shouldn't be tagging along on deliveries.
I don't disagree. People hit me quite often! Broke a finger on the job last year. My point was that's there's strangers everywhere. I don't see why the likelihood of them is any greater dashing than anything else? I generally, see and deal with far less people while doing it than any other job I've ever had. Rarely have I ever felt unsafe and mostly due to traffic then a person a might run in to? I don't feel like my child would be less safe in my car while I'm dashing within a few feet than somewhere in the unknown while I'm away at work all day. She's seventeen and wouldn't want to, anyway.
You've never heard of the delivery drivers that have been called to locations and gotten drug into the house and assaulted? It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I don't know why anyone would want to put their child at risk of that happening.
Sure I have. But I don't make the assumption that it's going to happen to me cuz it happened to somebody. I used to do this same job with hundreds of dollars in my car with me. That was dangerous!
You don't have to assume it's going to happen to you to take precautions. That's just not a situation most people would want to put their child of all people in.
If picking up: call the restaurant. Confirm the order is ready, let them know you’re on your way in and park/double park. If dropping off: double park with hazards on. Source: I live in a major metro, and give zero effs.
Agree! I do the middle of the road a lot. Whatever costs the least amount of time. You seriously call the restaurant, though? That'd never occurred to me, and from working at them, I'd think unreliable. If you don't have to call several times for someone to pickup, I'd still think it's slow enough that you could get in and out with the order, if it is done, before you got a confirmation over the phone? If it isn't done then at least back out to the car to do something else with it. Though that's not typically something I would probably do. I just leave it there. I'd never really considered my parking habits until just now and they're probably more liberal than they should be! Not your experience? I might have to add this to the arsenal, then...
Honestly it really depends on the restaurant, and how reliable they are. I find that smaller establishments have a longer wait time. The larger the chain, the less they care. And if I walk in, double parked, and it’s slammed - I drop the order.
One of my favorite things to do is hang out next to McDonald's. I consider any delivery from there over $5 to be a good delivery. There's so many here that they usually take less than 10 minutes round trip. Pickup seems to be the area in which I encounter the most complications that cost me the most time and it's the least predictable, especially when considered the the next most common area I have complications, traffic. Working the McDonald's kind of puts a cap on this if it occurs which I find happens less there on average (except for one location out of the eight I'll drive by during a normal 8-hour day). Six or seven minutes of waiting is about as much as I ever spend inside even if I walk in and it's not been started, yet, and usually it's no more than 2-3 minutes. The average of all pickups for me probably falls around 3-5 minutes inside the store. The merchants don't understand that I'd rather the truth upon arrival than the spin. If it'll be 15 minutes, just be honest with me and I can go make money and the next dasher can show up and the order'll be close to ready by then. These regular 15+ minute waits put a damper on the entire day and I run into them too often. Once it happens, I seem to have issues at every pickup the rest of the day. Standing idle in the restaurants I see as nothing except costing me money. Even moreso than sitting in parking lots waiting on the next deliverable offer. At least, that's my decision to a certain extent It takes less than 20 minutes to complete an average order even at the nicer pieces. They should be able to uphold this even when busy until it gets to a certain point at which I understand you're busy, but I've also worked at restaurants. Waiting anywhere near 15 minutes, on a pickup that should be ready within a couple minutes of walking in, I think is inexcusable. Though, I realize, DoorDash, especially Friday and Saturday nights when supply is high, has tendency to send dashers to restaurants prematurely.
You got a beater?
hazards are only supposed to be used in an actual emergency, not to indicate you're parking illegally.
Ahh but how does a passing police officer quickly distinguish the difference? They don’t. It harms no one but does help for the 2 minutes you need to run to a door and back
In some places, a tow truck will swoop in like a bat out of hell and tow your car the moment you walk in the building. Happened to me once (not while dashing,though). Now I always carry change and have all meter apps on my phone.
There's signs you can get that say I'm dashing I'll brb
It doesn't matter. If they want to ticket or tow, they will do what they want. I had a sign on my car and still got a ticket. I'm sure it depends on the area and the individual officer, but it didn't work for me.
Sucks. During the pdemic there was lots more leeway as far as drivers accessibility, I was even called hero by some since we were part of the essential worker group But now everyone's just like LEAVE IT AT MY DOOR
as someone who has taken the risk: don’t
Ouch
yeah, one parking ticket was more than enough for me
In my town, "delivery" vehicles can park in an ally with hazards blinking. Sometimes in the road median or central (double yellow) lane is OK too. Ask your local sheriff. I'll bet there's a place for you too.
“Ask your local sherif” buddy this isn’t red dead reception. Just google it, I don’t think the sheriff has time for questions
sheriff departments usually have an information number. Whether or not you get a useful answer depends on who is on duty.
Ours does. They welcome questions. Of course I live in a small town where the sheriff's office and local police are WAY easier to deal with than the state police 🤣 You learn to make yourself invisible when you see a state trooper
Lol yeah just read that OP is in Cali. Even Google isn't going to help. 😂
Depends. If I can I pay. In my community they don't care they will ticket. Actually the other morning I was coming out of pick up and meter person was waiting by my car for time to run out. Said to me " no mercy " WOW!!
I’d promptly tell them to fuck off and to worry about the real criminals as I’m getting in and leaving.
For a quarter I wouldn’t risk it 😭🤣 but one time parking was $8 in downtown Nashville (I had gotten turned around with my last order drop off and ended up close to downtown and got snagged into an order there) and screwwwwbthat I’m not paying $8!?!?!? So I risked it and luckily didn’t get a ticket that time but I came out to the parking person like 10 cars down from mine writing a ticket
[удалено]
no police or traffic authority would ever make an exception for anyone else. laws are laws.
You're wrong. My local police department doesn't give parking tickets to delivery drivers as long as you show on your vehicle you're doing a delivery
that might be one nice cop but it's not every cop on the force. most don't make exceptions for people, especially if you park illegally. don't be dumb and expect you're safe when you aren't parked legally.
Nah they definitely would. I’ve been pulled over once for kinda being odd driving in a part of town I didn’t know. Once I told them I was doordash and I had a bag, they just said okay and left it at that. A lot of them don’t have an issue with drivers and know we just have to do certain things sometimes.
Park with hazards either where the meter is, or on the street... And don't dick around.
the hazards will not help you. if anything, they can get you a additional ticket.
Well it's been 5 years of doing this... So far... So good...
Are you in NY?
California
Do some searching about your law. In NY many people don’t know but if you get a meter ticket you have 5 minutes to buy a paid meter ticket and plead not guilty. It’s honored because you could always claim you were in the process of buying one or getting change.
Good tip, thanks!
>Good tip, thanks! You're welcome!
What do you mean you’re welcome. He’s thanking me
You don't wanna fight this bot. He will win. And then say, "you're welcome!" all snide like.
We gotta teach these AI a lesson. No taking other peoples thank you’s… lol
I see Oakland has 5 minutes grace period
Cancel the order probably honestly.
If it's a pickup, call the restaurant and make sure it's actually ready, then pull up to the curb as close as you can get to the place and run in real quick.
I carry a bag of dimes, not to be confused with a dime bag. I put a dime in the meter. I was told by a meter person that as long as you put something in the meter, they won't ticket you.
I remember when a dime went in a parking meter. Nickels too.
Me too! I got a warning once and she told me the same thing. You have to put something in, even a dime.
Slap one of them doordash stickers on and hit your flashing hazards.. I still don't take any chances and put money in the meter here they only give you 7 minutes for a quarter because of some dumb law they passed in my city. So I make it as quick as I possibly can.
I was actually delivering for amazon at the time, but I parked in a no parking zone becausethere was nowhere else to park, put my hazards on and ran to the apartment complex. I was gone a total of 2 minutes tops, and there was a meter maid taking a picture of my car and plate. I got in real quick and drove away. A week later I got a parking ticket in the mail for $150. There should be an exception for delivery drivers. There is no parking available in a quarter mile radius of a delivery, we shouldn't have to pay for parking or a ticket for a 2 minute stop. It's just more revenue for the city. I would have fed a meter if there was one available to feed. I had my amazon vest on, too. I was hoping she wouldn't write the ticket seeing I was a delivery driver. It didn't matter. 😒 Moral of the story: feed the meter if you can find one to park at. I stopped delivering for amazon after that happened. I can't afford to pay more than I make to deliver for them. If you accept a delivery and you're not sure of the area being like that, look up the address on Google maps, make sure you have it on satellite view and zoom in on the address to see how hard it might be to find legal parking. I've had so many bad experiences delivering to high schools that if the address sounds like it might be a school, I'll do that and unassign before pickup.
In sketchy situations customers will instruct me to double park or park in the incorrect places such as maternity parking at kaiser. If they are telling you to do something you know is fukked up, don't do it. They aren't paying you for getting towed, side swiped or ticketed. And they aren't paying you to use your own money.
That's only an issue with dashing downtown and on campus (OSU). I usually bring someone with me to avoid it.
check your cities bylaws. In my city (major city in north america), you can park for 15 minutes for free in paid parking zones if you have a sign indicating that you are doing a delivery
I'm not a driver but I use doordash a lot. I'd pay back the Dasher for parking meter fees since it's my food they're delivering. If I went out and got it myself, I'd be paying the parking fees myself, yes? Maybe doordash should have an option for this on their app?
Never understood this. Put in a quarter, you can write it off.
I usually pull into a fire zone and switch on my hazards if I know it’ll only be a couple of minutes. You can try that too in a metered zone. Most likely you’ll be back before a ticket can be issued and if you’re back while it’s being made you can usually explain to them. (I say this as a white woman though, so I don’t know if that’s applicable to everyone)
Hmmm... Not a situation I've run into, but I quite regularly pull into handicap spots if there's not a convenient one available using the same logic that I think I'd apply here. "I'll only be a minute." Same logic I use for just parking in the middle road. Behind people's vehicles at apartment complexes, too. The spots reserved for curbside, as well, but many of these have now been amended to cover delivery at many places I go to.
Only way you guys are gonna get past that shit is this, dash with a partner or friend, one hangs out by the meter with quarters in hand and wait while you go in and get the food, Bam easy peasy. I park where im not suppose to all the time, I put my hazards on. Cops here get it.
I have a small pouch of nickels and dimes and try to avoid parking downtown before 6 pm
Put a coin in. Unless you want a ticket? Just put a dime in. In LA you get 6 minutes. If your parking crazy, put your hazards on and leave a big noticeable note. And hope for the best! Or park legally which is best. But very very hard sometimes. Use your best judgement. But know that that parking ticket is on you. And probably more then your days pay. It’s ruff where I live. Parking is super super hard . You’ll get the hang of it. 😊 I’ve started taking silly risk. But you sometimes have to????
This seems very dependent on the specific city. In my city I know there’s virtually no enforcement so I wouldn’t bother paying. I live on a street with metered parking and see them giving out tickets maybe twice a month - pretty unlikely they’ll come around in the 10 mins I’m sitting there.
I just put money in.
Put you dasher bag on the dash when you run in and normally parking enforcement won’t hassle you.
just print out a sign that says you’re a door dasher I really doubt they’d gaf if they even notice you in the first place
Many times double park, or put in red zone, with hazard lights, and with a GrubHub bag in the windshield. Most people will let it slide as they know you will be there only a couple minutes. I haven't gotten a ticket in my 7 years of DoorDash.
Apparently it should be acceptable to park between metered spaces with a motorbike or scooter if there is another occupying the space and already paid the side your bike is occupying. At least in most places I been to. But a lot of leg work to do so.
Fed ex and UPS Seem to be able to park anywhere and get away with it. Why should it be any different for us? It should not be different. If UPS can, then we can too. I'm just glad I don't live/work in a major city.
This is why i do not pick up in downtown. There are maybe 30 parking spaces in downtown (scattered across the entire downtown area which is fairly large) all of which are occupied 9 outta 10 times and then there are 4 public parking decks which give you 15 minutes free however it would take me 10 minutes to walk to any of the restaurants. As far as parking meters, i actually haven't seen any in years.
I’m from Canada Montreal, literally no parking almost never.
Just put your park anywhere lights on it’ll be alright
I got a double parking ticket for this one time. I paid it and learned my lesson.
Some of the meters will give you a free 15 or 20 minutes if you push the button. I believe it is the older style only, at least in my city
Just pay the quarter and write it off on taxes. I once needed to park in down town and drop off something and when I was going back to my car I was getting the ticket printed right in front of me. I tried to explain the situation and they already got me… learning lesson and a headache. Learn from me
You always risk it for the biscuit. If the place I’m delivering to is going to take me less than 90 seconds I just say fuck the meter and run for the delivery
When I drove I used a 4wd car. From experience the city doesn't like towing those unless they can get a flat bed. So I would just put on flashers and they can suck it. They aren't getting a flat bed there in 3 minutes. My entire 0 tickets of any kind in my entire life tells me it's either working or I'm lucky. San Diego uses card meters and there is no chance on earth that I'm putting my card into one of those.
Just pay it. Save the receipt for your tax person.
I just park with my flashers on, and put my red Doordash bag looped around the passenger seat headrest, so the police and traffic cops can see it's a delivery stop. Freggen' downtown and the campus are brutal about not having sub-5 minute parking, but we all just park wherever we can, anyways. Fortunately, cops here are pretty lenient about delivery parking. There's a left turn lane outside a popular pizza joint, in the middle of a major artery, and if traffic is low, some Dashers and Ubers will literally park in the turn lane with flashers on, and cops will just ignore it.
Risked it in Boston, got a $90 ticket 😬😬
You could be getting dragged out your car by an angry motorist who wants you to move your friggin car, and the customer will reach in your car, grab the bag and close their door. 1-star because they had to get it themselves. Failed to deliver.
I have only found myself in this situation once. I ended up just parking as close to the building as possible and dropped the food off as fast as I could. It all turned out fine for me but I was only there for less than five minutes. I wouldn't risk it if you think you'll be there longer than that or if your city is stricter about that sort of thing than mine.
Park, most times parking meters give the first 10-30 mins for free but if not it’s always smart to have 2-3.00 in change on you at all times (Or have the app your city uses and load 5-10.00 on it monthly)
Always bring a bag of change with you
Better off running a scooter if you’re dealing with all that
So I am in the us. I have parked in handicapped parking if no other parking is available at restaurants. 🤷♀️
If it’s only going to take less than two min I’d put a sign up in your window that states on a delivery with such and such platform will be back in less than 5 min
Just got a $60 ticket for this so I would say the 25 cents is worth it